WWE NXT TakeOver: Unstoppable Review

This was originally scheduled to be a Triple
Threat #1 Contender’s Match, also involving Hideo Itami. However, Itami had to
be removed from the match after news broke that he had suffered a bad shoulder
injury. They explained this injury, in storyline, by having Itami “attacked” by
someone in the parking lot, and while they didn’t show the actual attack in the
video on the kickoff show, they seemed to imply that it was NXT Champion Kevin
Owens. Now, the match is simply a singles match between Balor & Breeze, who both get pretty cool
entrances (Breeze with a number of supermodels, Balor
in his usual demon attire). This was a pretty solid opening match. It was slow
to start, but things really picked up towards the end. There were some good
near-falls, and at one point, Balor actually
dove off part of the NXT Entrance Set onto Breeze! In the end, Balor would score the victory to earn another shot
at the NXT Title! A good start to show.

2.) Bayley & Charlotte vs. Emma & Dana
Brooke: **1/2

This might be the first NXT TakeOver Special to feature two women’s matches (if I recall
correctly). Emma recently made her return to NXT, as a heel, and aligned
herself with newcomer Dana Brooke. Here, they’re taking on the team of Bayley
& Charlotte, which is a significant pairing, since those two were feuding
the latter half of 2014. This match wasn’t anything special, but it was a solid
tag team match. It had some a sloppy moment or two (mainly from Dana Brooke),
but still, for its spot on the card, it was perfectly acceptable for what it
was. Bayley & Charlotte would get the win in this match.

3.) Baron Corbin vs. Rhyno: **1/4

So it seems like Baron Corbin’s story thus far
in 2015 is that he’s been going up against other “monsters”. He first went
through Bull Dempsey, and now, he’s going after Rhyno. There really isn’t much
to say about the match itself, other than it was pretty much what you would
have expected, with a ton of brawling both inside and outside of the ring.
Corbin would get the win, but unfortunately for them, nobody is going to
remember this match, because news broke while the match was going on (via Dave
Meltzer’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter) that Destination America was going to
be cancelling TNA Impact later in the
year.

It still is a little baffling that the NXT Tag
Team Titles were actually held by Blake & Murphy. Here, they’re defending
against a team who are true fan favorites in Enzo Amore & Colin Cassady. I’m
not sure if this is the first time that Enzo & Cass have gotten a shot at
the NXT Tag Team Titles, but it’s definitely their first shot on a major NXT
show. The match itself was, for the most part, solid. It was definitely a
better performance from Blake & Murphy compared to their first major title
defense against The Lucha Dragons at NXT TakeOver:
Rival. Of course, the crowd was really behind Enzo & Cass, and it
looked like at a number of points that they were going to win the NXT Tag Team
Titles. However, towards the end of the match, they became distracted when Alex
Bliss came out and attacked Carmella! This allowed Blake & Murphey to take
advantage, and retain the NXT Tag Team Titles.

The newly heel Alexa Bliss celebrated with Blake
& Murphey after the match.

5.) NXT Women’s Title – Sasha Banks vs. Becky
Lynch: ****1/2

Sasha Banks won the NXT Women’s Title from
Charlotte in a Fatal Four-Way Match at NXT TakeOver:
Rival in a match that also involved Bayley, and her challenger for tonight,
Becky Lynch. There is a story behind this match, as Becky Lynch turned heel
late in 2014 to form a unit with Sasha Banks, but this pairing quickly
dissolved when Banks became NXT Women’s Champion. This continued the trend of
awesome NXT Women’s Title Matches on these NXT TakeOver Specials and, in my opinion, this might have been the best
one yet. I thought this match was amazing!! It had a big fight feel right from
start, and the match as a whole was just awesome to watch. They told a great
story throughout the match, as both competitors targeted each other’s arms, but
there was also some really cool spots throughout the match. Both also played
their roles really well. Banks, once again, has another incredible performance
on one of these NXT TakeOver Specials,
but this was a real breakout performance from Lynch. This was just an awesome
match from start to finish (I’ve used that word “awesome” a lot, but that’s the
best word I can use to describe this match). Eventually, Banks would score the
submission victory. Even though Banks emerged victorious, Lynch (who was really
disappointed with coming out on the losing end) got a huge reaction from the
crowd as she left. Definitely check this match out.

6.) NXT Title – Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn: ***1/2

Of course, Owens defeated Zayn via referee
stoppage at NXT TakeOver: Rival to
win the NXT Title. Speaking of Owens, he comes out wearing a John Cena T-Shirt
(playing off his feud with Cena, which had kicked off recently on RAW). Now, while this match wasn’t
nearly as good as their previous encounter, this was still pretty solid, for
what it was. The match featured a lot of brawling outside of the ring, and for
the most part, was more of an angle/storyline vehicle as opposed to an actual
match. I think part of that had to do with the fact that, going into this
match, Zayn was suffering from an injured shoulder, which occurred when he
challenged John Cena for the United States Title on RAW, and I think many at the time figured this would be Zayn’s last
match before undergoing surgery. In that sense, I guess the way this match
turned out shouldn’t be a surprise. It actually had a silver lining a bit as
well, from a storyline perspective, as Owens could brag about how he put Zayn
on the shelf.

The match actually didn’t have a proper
“ending”. The two kept brawling, and at one point, Owens actually knocked down
NXT’s General Manager, William Regal. After they made their way back to the
ring, it looked like Owens was going to use a chair on Zayn, but he was
stopped, when SAMOA FREAKING JOE came out!!!! The crowd went nuts as Samoa Joe
made his way down to the ring. He had an intense stare down with Owens in the
ring, but Owens eventually backed down. Samoa Joe stood tall in the ring as the
show came to a close.

Overall:
8.25/10

While I don’t think this was the best NXT TakeOver Special up to this point, it
was definitely one of the most memorable. You had an awesome NXT Women’s Match,
which was easily the best match of the night. There was also the continuation
of the Owens/Zayn story, and the massive debut of Samoa Joe. Even though Samoa
Joe would only go on to have one match with Kevin Owens on NXT TV before Owens
got called up to the Main Roster, his debut here was arguably one of the
biggest moments in the history of NXT, and in a way, it represented a change of
philosophy with WWE, where a wrestler didn’t need to change his name when he
came into the company (and this was something that would continue several
months later when a number of other big outside names came to the WWE). As far
as this show as a whole is concerned, the Sasha Banks/Becky Lynch NXT Women’s
Title Match is really the only must-see match on this show. Everything else was
either pretty good (like Balor vs. Breeze)
or just ok, but again, while this show really only had one amazing match, it
concluded with one of the most memorable debuts in NXT (and maybe even WWE)
history.